Showing Compassion One Person at a Time

INTRO

In the Gospel of Luke, we’re looking at Jesus as the Son of Man. Jesus shows Himself as the Son of Man by being part of humanity and coming down to earth. John 1:14 says, “The Word became flesh and took up residence among us. We observed His glory, the glory as the One and Only Son from the Father, full of grace and truth.” The Son of Man took up residence with us. Chapter 7 begins with the story of the Centurion’s faith (vv. 1-10). Then, it covers the story of the widow’s son, our main text for today, as we look at Jesus’ interaction with the dead.

TEACHING

Luke 7:11-14: Jesus and His disciples were on their way to the town of Nain, located about 20 miles southwest of Capernaum, on the northern slope of Mt. Moriah, and on the eastern side of the Jezreel Valley (where we will talk about Elisha later in our studies). Today this town (now spelled Nein) has a population of 200. As Jesus walked up to the gate of this tiny town, a dead man was being taken out in a coffin (v. 11).

Note that Jesus was always about the timing. John 11:9 says, “‘Aren’t there 12 hours in a day?’ Jesus answered. ‘If anyone walks during the day, he doesn’t stumble, because he sees the light of this world.’” John 13:1 says, “Before the Passover Festival, Jesus knew that His hour had come to depart from this world to the Father.” Jesus understands timing. When you trust the voice of the Holy Spirit, you will always understand every step is His (Psalm 119:105).

Nelson’s Commentary describes the funeral procession that Jesus would have seen. First, the procession was coming out of the town gates to the cemetery located outside the town. Funerals took place the same day as the death so that no house would become unclean by keeping a dead body there overnight. The body would have been anointed before the procession began, and the processional would have included almost everyone in the small town.¹The loss of the widow’s only son would have brought the town to the funeral (v. 12).

As believers, we should be pouring into widows (Deuteronomy 27:19; Psalm 68:5; 146:9; James 1:27). Jesus saw the widow who had lost her only son and had compassion for her (v. 13). “His mother’s only son” is parallel to Luke 8:42 and Jairus’s only daughter, and Luke 9:42 and the story of the man’s only daughter who was “at death’s door.” Jesus has a compassion for those who would lose their only children. Because of that compassion, He told the widow not to cry (Hebrews 4:15-16).

The word “compassion” is what changed Time to Revive. It led me into a study on compassion that focused on four words: love, listen, discern, and respond. These four words grew out of studying Jesus’ compassion in Scripture. Jesus walked up to the coffin and touched it, something no one else would have done because it made Him unclean for seven days (Numbers 19:11). Jesus not only touched the coffin, but the coffin was open, so Jesus touched the dead son’s body (v. 14). Out of His compassion for the widow, Jesus said, “Young man, I tell you, get up!” Everything Jesus did was out of His love and compassion. For us as believers, our prayer must be, “Lord, increase my compassion so I can love the widows and those who are unclean.” What extremes are we willing to go through to love people for the sake of the gospel?

Luke 7:15-17: “The dead man sat up and began to speak, and Jesus gave him to his mother” (v. 15). Don’t you wonder what the resurrected son said? We see Jesus do this in Scripture only two other times: Jairus’s daughter (Luke 8:40-56) and Lazarus (John 11:38-44). Note that the young man’s response was immediate, and so was Jesus’ giving the young man to his mother. Every time Jesus touched someone, there was an immediate response: Simon Peter’s mother-in-law got up immediately (Luke 4:39); the skin disease immediately left the man (Luke 5:13); and the paralytic man rose immediately (Luke 5:25). One of the things I wrestle with is that we don’t see the work of Christ and respond immediately!

“Then fear came over everyone, and they glorified God” (v. 16b). The demonstration of supernatural power always leads to glorifying God. The people identified Jesus as “a great prophet.” First Kings 17:17-24 explains the idea of Elijah as the great prophet and the double-mantle of Elisha. Second Kings 4:32-37 shares the story of a widow’s son who died and came back to life.

Jesus was reminding the crowds of what God could do. The people were saying that God had sent help, perhaps another prophet, and maybe some of them thought Jesus was the Messiah.

Verse 17 shares that the news of Jesus was spreading throughout Judea. Great multitudes were showing up to hear Jesus speak, and the word went out to the entire Jewish region. Jesus sent His disciples out with the instructions to “heal the sick, raise the dead, cleanse those with skin diseases, drive out demons. You have received free of charge; give free of charge” (Matthew 10:8). Mathew 10:8 doesn’t exist unless we love the people first. We have to have the same compassion that Jesus had for the widow outside the gatesa.

CLOSING

To love someone, you have to first go out of your way because Jesus first went out of His way for us (1 John 4:19). Set your needs aside, you cannot ignore people (1Thessalonians 3:12).

If you want to have an impact on the people around you, you must first and always start with love. As you love on people, the relationship will morph into listening. We need to listen to their questions and listen to their stories (Proverbs 18:2, 13). Listening then leads to discernment–what is God leading us to do with the person we’ve encountered (Proverbs 20:5)? Ask the Holy Spirit to help you understand what the person is sharing with you, and then respond as you are led (Colossians 4:5-6).

I believe this progression can happen for all of us, but as Jesus showed, it happens one person at a time.